I never meant to brag

Long long long day. Oy. I'm exhausted. Went to class then ran lines until it was time for rehearsal. Jason brought the girls by for their parts then took them home and Tiffany was amazing enough to watch them until I was done with my part, so they were able to get sleep. Meanwhile, I was at the school until 11pm. *zonkered* The good news is I was able to have a little bit of fun backstage with some friends. Here's a fun pic of Austin, Graham and I holding up a literal interpretation of ourselves. Yay!

...And back again

Today was just insane. Seriously. We barely made our flight due to limited seats (a guy got irate and cussed out a flight attendant so we were both able to make it on...classy!) and returned home at noon. I grabbed my school bag and left immediately, Tokyo drifting into an available parking space to arrive at school just in time to take my 1pm psych test. *phew!* Tonight was also our first tech rehearsal for the show, so I stayed after, rehearsed, and came home. The girls were very excited to see us back, especially considering we had brought them candy from Nevada. Specifically Unicorn Pops. Bri stuck that on her head exactly as Leigha said, "Whoa, they're called Unicorn Pops!" Funny how some things need no explanation.

What happens in Vegas?

We visited my dad at the hospital today. Got to see his head unwrapped, too. Looks like he's going to have a pretty cool question-mark shaped scar on the side of his head. I still say they should have thrown in the Harry Potter lightning bolt for good measure. Jason and I had to leave today, however, so we left for the airport. Twice, actually. Flying home on Sundays is rough. We finally got a flight into Vegas but due to the late hour of the flight (that ended up also taking a delay...groan) we didn't end up getting there until eleven, so we booked a room at the Stratosphere in order to make the 7am flight bearable. We were going to do some Vegas-ey things while we were there, but because it ended up being so late the only thing we managed to do was ride the elevator up the tower, check out a gift shop, and go to bed at a reasonable-ish hour.

Hurry, hurry, hurry, before I go insane!

Today was the surgery. As they were taking my dad back, I gave him a hug. The place where the doctor had signed his initials (so they could be sure of which side the tumor was on) happened to brush my cheek and it transferred. I decided to leave it on my face the whole time. The waiting room was like a big party, everyone talking and laughing, and Janina and I colored a big poster for my mom's library. Finally, finally they came back and told us they got it. A tumor the size of a freaking orange. Wowza. By the time he came out of recovery (only an hour and a half or so) he was already cracking jokes, even if he wasn't completely lucid. By any stretch of the imagination. I took some pics of him, but promised him I wouldn't post them anywhere, so here's a lovely picture of me with ink on my face. I am so very, very relieved.

Flight for life

Today we left the girls with Sheila while we flew out to Reno, just barely making it on. Seriously, they closed the boarding process five minutes early so Jason and I could have the last two seats. We went from KC to Denver, Denver to Reno, Reno to sleep. My parents booked us a room at Circus Circus, which is across the street from the hospital. Tomorrow's the surgery. There are no words.

Must Go Faster.

In an effort to get my mind off things, and score extra credit in the process, I went to see the musical HONK! tonight at Baker University with some friends from school. One of our professors directed the show that is the musical adaptation of The Ugly Duckling. It was so very very cute! I wish I had brought the girls with me. We are trying to make arrangements to get out to Nevada and see my family but it's not looking at all good. Every time we check the number of seats available on the flight we want it gets progressively worse...and they were all bad to begin with. One way or another they operate on Saturday morning at 9am. Let's hope we can get out tomorrow.

Unmerry unmerry real birthday to me

Today was my 29th birthday. I came to school to find that Austin had procured a balloon shaped like a potato for me. I decided it would be a good idea to have everyone in the theater department sign it for me. We had a blast trying to see who could outdo each other with well-wishes and elaborate pictoral additions to his grinning face. At one point he even walked hand in hand down the hallway with Macey and Carley. I had a great time....until I got a call from my mom. "Are you sitting? You should be sitting." My dad has been complaining of bad headaches recently. Today he went to work and wasn't doing so well so his boss asked if he wanted to go to the emergency room, and my dad said that yes, he would. They went to the hospital (calling my mom on the way) and got an MRI done. Turns out he has a large brain tumor. Yeah. I got the call at 4:30, called Jason, then sat down on the floor of the hallway for a bit. The next time I looked up it was 6 and I hadn't even noticed. I'm in shock and honestly don't know what to do right now. You win again, sucky birthdays.

Sick Cat Face

Beautiful sunset this evening. I had a pretty decent day, too. Won my volleyball games, even with an incredibly sore left ring finger. That was pretty cool, although a REAL athlete gets injured DURING the game. *pssht* I opened a door is what I did. Oh, and speaking of which, we sent my ring to the jeweler and they're backlogged with Valentine's day crap so it's going to be a few weeks. Hello, I think an eleven year old ring is way more urgent than a 'happy two months since I worked up the courage to start thinking about maybe asking you to coffee' bracelet! Aw well. At least by then the bruising will be gone.

Tomorrow will be better

The girls really are growing up so fast. Most of the time. Brianna DID wear an oversized Target plastic bag this evening and insisted it was her 'magic bag.' I let her hop around in it like a potato sack until she tried putting it on her head then said, "Okay, no no, that's dangerous." I explained to her why that was the case before ripping it in half and putting it in the trash. Yikes. Had a brief but incredibly productive rehearsal this afternoon. This scene is really coming together! I hate memorizing lines, but after they're down, it's purely playtime. Aw yeah!

Care Bear Stare

Saw this advertisement at Target tonight. All I could think was OM NOM NOM NOM NOMMMM!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh, we're there.

Busy, busy day. I had a rehearsal, then went to the girls' Girl Scout 'World Thinking Day' event, then drove THEM to a rehearsal. Here they are in the back seat of a 'car' being driven around by Gus, the other kiddo in their scene. We're working around the set of 'The Odd Couple' for the next week while it runs, so it's kind of a pain. It sure was entertaining, though. Bri is supposed to make funny noises during the scene and my friend Graham is the driver (though Gus tried hard to usurp him) and at one point he turns around to say something to her while she's making the noises and she hissed at him like a cat! It was too too funny. "Yup. That's your kid all right..."

The Fix is in

Today was our eleventh wedding anniversary. Wah-how. Wow. The day was kind of like a play in that it had two acts and an intermission. In act one, Jason drove my clothes to me and got me to the school in time for class. He left to go fix my car. Dreading a dead engine I was pleased by the text that informed me it was just the compressor. (Dude, it BLEW UP! Like, really, literally blew up!) which is a $250 easily accessible part. *whew!* He's totally like Superman, I swear. He fixed that car so fast I wasn't even finish with my classes for the day yet! So I thanked him profusely and told him to go on with his day while I bummed a ride from the school with one of my friends. When I got to the car I found roses waiting for me on the front seat! (Awwwww!) I drove home and got ready for the evening (intermission.) while Jason dropped off the kids to spend the night with some friends. We went to a swanky place in Union Station. A lot of people must have ordered martinis or something because the waitstaff kept walking through with shakers. The ice inside tumbled around loudly, so every time it happened I'd yell out (quietly) "YAHTZEE!"

No bad days, just good stories

Yeah, so I gakked my finger pretty good today. I was walking through the scene shop and I went to close the heavy sound door when my ring got caught on the door handle and PULLED. Pain shot up my arm and it instantly began to bruise and swell. The ring itself bent into an ungodly shape and has a divet in the metal. Great. We got ice and someone made the point "Well at least you didn't pull your finger off. They can't take a lot of force, you know." No, I didn't. Cool. Now I get to have nightmares. Tiffany came out to the school to see The Odd Couple with me tonight and I had just finished telling her this story when she said, "Well....uh, you may not want it now, but I got you something." She instructed me to hold out my hand and close my eyes and I couldn't help but laugh my head off when I felt her sliding a very pretty antique ring onto my right hand. How sweet! How ironic! After the show we came out to find that it had snowed heavily and the roads were all slick. We tested the roads by getting a group together and hitting the IHOP. We had a blast, but when we went to leave I turned my car on and black, stinky smoke filled the cab of the car. I was the last person leaving the parking lot so I called Matt Yale and asked him to come back (he was the next to last to leave) and Jason to see what I should do. It was late, the girls were asleep and driving conditions were very dangerous. It was decided that I would go to Matt's grandma's place and sleep in the guest room and the car would be dealt with in the morning. What a horrendously long day. But hey, what a story, right?

Shadrach, Meeschach, and Tabedyago

My dearest Jessica,

Was it something I said? We don't spend enough time together, darling. I miss the press of your cheek against mine. Listening to the rise and fall of your breath at close range. The chance of you sucking an errant feather into your lungs as you softly snore. I fear we are growing apart and can only hope that my desperate plea will allow me to find myself once again in your embrace. For both of our sakes, come back to me my dear, and hold me as you once did.

With sincerest heartfelt love,

Your Pillow

Mindblowing force

Had a volleyball game tonight. Wore this shirt. I like this shirt. I think my favorite part of it is the fact that her hair is blue. They drew an outline and stuck it on a blue shirt instead of choosing to color it a 'normal' shade. 'Normal' hair color. Right, like most of the people I know have their natural hair color. At least I choose to be honest about it.

Hello Raisin

Pretty sure this was inspired by Valentines day....either way Brianna is an odd duck. As soon as I snapped this picture she said, "I wanna see what it looks like!" I pointed to the altered poster. "Just like that, Bri." Silly girl. Busy day for me. The girls didn't have school but I did, so this morning was rather hectic. I fueled myself with coffee when I had time...at three...

Weekend Update

So I got a bit behind on the blog and had a bit of an epic weekend. The girls were gone, Jason was gone, so I took advantage of the alone time to sort out thoughts, relax and enjoy myself. The details and events are mine to keep, however, because I want to keep my special time close to my heart, as lame and squishy as that sounds. So instead of the typical 'one post a day, one picture per day,' here is a collection of images from my weekend, no explanations. Enjoy! Regularly scheduled program resumes tomorrow, same bat channel.

Me or them.

I treated myself to a pair of insanely cute shoes the other day. I ordered them online and waited in anticipation as they went out of stock, back into stock, shipped, no answer at the door so no signature so UPS left us a note...and finally here. I put them on this morning with the though, "Kitty shoes. It's gonna be a good day. It's GOTTA be a good day." Then stumbled as I realized I haven't worn clunky mary janes since the '90's and holy cow they are very heavy. I had forgotten that. But you know what? It was a good day. Spent some time with a few good friends, didn't have anything due, no tests, just a nice chill day. This afternoon Jason took the girls down to meet Sheila halfway so she could take them for the weekend. He is leaving tomorrow morning to go skiing with his brother and I have a few rehearsals this weekend, so she was fantastic enough to take them for us, so Jason and I went out. Not too late, though, his plane leaves way way early. So happy I get to wake at my regular time.

Tooters who toot flutes

Poorly lit gyms are not the best place to capture distance shots. At least they weren't moving much. Leigha had a band concert at 8am today (????) so we frantically scrambled to get ready for the day as we figured out how to get Jason there (as he comes home at 8am) and how to get Bri to school (as it went until 8:30 and her bus comes by at 8:15) what a mess. Somehow we made it work and caught a roomfull of fifth graders frantically blowing into instruments. The baritone player was out for blood, it was great. Oh, and the conductor made the bold decision to not showcase the crowd-pleaser 'hot cross buns' which blew my mind and upset some of the more hardcore fans. I held up my lit cell phone in appreciation for their work, however, as they were actually pretty good considering their amateur status.

I need a suggestion

I'm a doodler in class. It helps me pay attention, actually. However, I find that the intro to theater class I'm taking (because it's a prerequisite for the class I REALLY want to take next fall) is not one I have to jot down a lot of notes for because I already know the bulk of the material during this introductory phase. Not that it's not interesting, it's just that I don't need to keep notes about a lot of it. This has been causing an excess in doodlage for me, as seen above. Meet the 'Good Omen Guinea Pig.' Because bean bags with feet need heroes too.

HBDSP!

BEHOLD the cherry yum yum pie in all its glory! Behold it I say!

The Unreliables

We recently acquired a Jack in the Box here in KC, but it's a bit of a drive so I haven't gone yet. Jason decided to get a bite there today, however, and when he went he got an antenna topper. His antenna is bent so he gave it to me. Excited, I altered it to my own specifications and gleefully went out to put it on my antenna....only to discover that I don't have one on my car. What? Come on, Toyota, I want a whole car here! The antenna is a very important form of self-expression, equal in value to the rearview mirror! The stuff you put in your car is very informative and personal, and I like to personalize everything I have because it's much more fun that way. But alack, one thing I do not have is an antenna.

Flying to save the day

I had a busy busy day today. Helped Tiffany pick out a couch for her place, had some IHOP, a rehearsal, and then I took in a rock show for my friend's band. It ended up being a really great day, even if I felt like a frazzled hamster by the end of it.

The Matriarch

A group of us went to an improv show tonight. Tiffany and I met up first around the area of my school. We found out that the pastry department was having one of its legendary bake sales so we went and got some yummy treats. We dressed up and met everyone at the theater, treated ourselves to an amazing show (chock full of friends) then went out for a bite. The best part of the night was the fact that there was a group of friends from school, and my improv buddies were there! Phil is in Improv-Abilities now, so I got to sit next to people I love from both groups. Hooray! The evening itself was one of those strange events where everything just feels...weird. Strange coincidences and occurrances kept happening all night long, one right after another. Perhaps there is a mythical Midwest triangle and we happened to stumble upon it? Who knows.

Awkward Turtle

So here's an awkward picture from rehearsal. I slap his hand away immediately after, FYI...*cough* It's going well, I need to work on memorizing stuff. Shoot, at this point, though, every day I don't rescue a hamster is a good day. There's a new bar, and it's a high one.

Bjork to the Future

This is Marsha. She goes to our church. That is her very first corn dog. Ever. How cool is that? She was kind enough to let me capture the momentus occasion. Awesome. I had an incredibly rude awakening. Brianna came running into my room, tears streaming down her face, blubbering, "Spartacus ate Leigha's hamster!" "WHAT????" "He did! I saw him!" Ohnoohnoohnoohno....bracing myself for a gruesome scene I ran into the living room to find Spartacus running low to the floor like he knew he was being bad, when all of a sudden something fell to the floor in front of him. Rocky! I ran toward him but he scooped the hamster up again then accidentally dropped him in the kitchen, where I was JUST fast enough to grab a poor, shaken, but otherwise completely unharmed hamster off the floor. Poor little guy! Leigha had neglected to check to make sure her door was all the way shut this morning. We gave her a talk about protecting her pet and moved the cage onto a more sturdy piece of furniture in the room.

Athel337

This is me post-Vball game tonight. It's kind of awkward to take pics while people are being active and whatnot. "Oh no, my BUTT is in those SHORTS are in that PICTURE!" Nah thanks. So I snapped a quick shot in the car shortly after we lost the game. (and so did you.) It was snowing a little bit on the way out of the gym and very slick on the roads. I didn't do faster than fourty-five on the way home, and yes, that's with highways. When I got home from the intense-focus drive I found out I didn't get a callback. I figured as much. Oh well.

Oh Jimmy....

Wow, that *is* a horrid photo of me. Oh well. Saint, Sommer and Jacci look great! During school today I had a lunch rehearsal between classes. Do you know how hard it is to pretend to drive a car while actually eating? I don't know how people who eat behind the wheel while they are really driving can do it! Either way it was fun and I got to practice my audition monologue with them as well! The auditions tonight went okay...I don't expect a callback, though. The show is Richard III for the late Spring, and the department is totally top notch when it comes to all things Shakesperian, so I know they were looking for correct iambic pentameter and whatnot. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

A Team, but not THE A-team.

We unloaded the trailer with Tiffany's worldly possessions today. I showed up and it was just Tif and her dad for a bit, then Matt Y showed up as well as one of Tiffany's dad's friends. We had a grand time pretending that the lightest objects were terrifically heavy. My favorite was the small makeup case that I needed two people to help me with as we made a big show of dragging it, taking breaks, and culminating in three imaginary hernias. When it was over Tiffany thanked us by taking us out for pizza, then (since Jason went to a party to watch some TV and the girls went along to play with friends) Tiffany and I went back to put some boxes into their proper rooms, set up her bed, and watched a movie. Olivia (her boston terrier) curled up between us and was snoring LOUDLY the whole time. That's about how we felt.

How Cats go Bowling.

So busy today I didn't even take a picture until late-ish. I had a great rehearsal today for the SET play at school. I'm excited to breathe life into this role, there's so much satisfaction in taking facets of your personality and incorporating them into a character, making words come to life and creating subtext out of thin air. I drove up to Tiffany's after, to help her fix up her place in preparation for her to live there! That's right, she's finally back in town and it was so good to see her back home where she has been desperate to return for two years now! I know that feeling like an old friend. We happily scrubbed her baseboards to showtunes and danced to numbers from Hairspray and Glee as we rid the house of grime from the previous renters. I returned home this evening to find Bri up to mischief, Leigha spending the night at a friend's house, and Jason being awesome and taking care of things. They were going to come out and help at Tif's, but the carpets had just been cleaned and her dad (he helped her drive out and he's sticking around to help move her in) said, "Yeah....we probably don't want kids to be underfoot here just yet." So I decided to try and wear out the hamster a bit so he didn't run on his wheel all night and keep me and Bri awake. (Sounds like a freakin' pencil sharpener.) Spartacus was INCREDIBLY interested in the ball, but whenever Rocky ran toward him he would flip out and back off, it was hilarious. "Oh, wait, I just wanted to LOOK at it, not DO anything with it! Shoot, get it away!!!"

Wonderful, wonderful day!

Jason and I went out to lunch during my school day today. There's a place nearby called 'Firehouse Subs' and holy moly, it is SO good! They cater to all things manly, for the most part (20 different kinds of hot sauce? What?) so I couldn't help but be drawn to the over-the-topness of this mural on the wall. Jason said, "That's probably how Spartacus sees himself." He's right, you know. This evening I went with a few friends from school to see a show at the Living Room for some extra credit for our various theater classes. It was really good, that space puts on some seriously high-quality productions! We went to a restaurant afterward and amused the waitstaff with our normal, every day theater kid antics. I honestly wonder if my type are their favorite customers, or if they dread our comings and welcome our leave-takings?

Something fuzzy this way comes

Oh, Leigha...those bangs need to be tamed. I had a great day today. Had a quick coffee/hot chocolate chat with Austin this afternoon. She hasn't quite figured out how to piece together her day so that it includes an affordable lunch option just yet, so today she improvised with a piece of bread and free condiments (PB&J) generously provided by the food court. Very Tom Hanks of you, dear. This evening Jason and I took the girls to spend some gift cards/birthday money they had burning holes into their pockets. Brianna excitedly bought three princess books while Leigha opted on a real-live, parent approved hamster named Rocky. So CUTE! But his wheel sounds like a pencil sharpener. Yuk. However, hamsters are nocturnal escape artists by nature and we have a cat. Leigha has decided it would be a good idea to start sleeping with the door all the way shut because of this. Thanks, Rocky!

How much ground would a groundhog hog?

Since it was a snow day, we decided the best thing to do was drive on the nicely cleared streets to the Guitar Center 15 miles away to welcome the new addition to the family. Brianna touched the wood of Jason's new bass and declared that 'it feels like a lobster claw.' That means quality, folks. Tomorrow is a snow day for the girls, but not me. The good news is it's also Jason's day off, so he can drown them out with the sound of his new bass. Either way, our district has serious issues if they keep calling school on account of road conditions when even the neighborhood streets have been plowed. Hope the girls have always been curious to know what it's like to have school in June!

Colder than Fever

This is a cat's eye view of my back deck in the midst of our 'great Midwestern blizzard.' *cough* I know 'blizzard' has more to do with visibility than snowfall (you can get a bunch blowing around, collect 1/2 and inch and it's a blizzard, technically) but the freak out was blown out of proportion in my mind, unless perhaps you were in southeastern Missouri. Either way we had a snow day and we will have one tomorrow as well. The girls spent the day constructing elaborate forts that they are now sleeping in (in Leigha's room. Fun!) and Jason shoveled the driveway so he could get to work. (He made it safely doing 35mph at best the whole way there. 4 wheel drive FTW!) I caught up on my online class and finished a small painting. As for the cat's eye view...I caught him staring at the birds in the backyard and making 'I wanna get 'em!' sounds so I sat on the floor with him by the sliding glass door and put him on my lap so he could enjoy the view from a warm seat. He purred like crazy until one jumped on the deck right by the window and stayed for a while. He cut off the purr immediately and whipped his head around to stare at it until it flew away, then turned back and resumed his 'I'll love you forever!' purring. Good day to be an indoor kitty.

Super Cereal!

So this is what our weather map looked like at 9-ish in the evening. Notice the giant red bar with 'blizzard warning' on it? Yup. As I head to bed they have already cancelled school tomorrow for all of us but we still haven't had a single flake. I am hoping we come out on the extreme conservative side of the snowfall predictions, but didn't take any chances. I had Jason run to the grocery store while I went to school (the air thick with anticipation and dread of the coming storm), then on my way home I hit up the HoLo for some crafty essentials. My hands are already dotted with paint, tee hee! When Jason left for work this evening I had him pack extra food and a blanket. I really don't want to take any chances. The midwest is famous for wicked ice storms, after all, and that's a lot harder to drive in than snow. I'm going to go ahead and guess the snow will arrive early this morning, stop Wednesday, and we will be back in school Thursday. Let's see how this pans out...

Almost Human

This poor kitty puts up with so much from us. I've been trying furiously to learn some lines for an audition (Shakespeare is hard. Every syllable MATTERS. You can't mess up the words because it sounds obvious!) and he's been my faithful companion for the better part of the evening. How do I repay him? By flashing a light in his face to get a picture. And that's why we keep him in catnip.

Who's Settling?

I didn't realize it when I took this picture, but you can clearly see Brianna's hand on the right, there, picking up a game piece from the table. Nice. Austin moved to a new house recently, so she decided to throw a small housewarming/game party. The game in question was Settlers of Catan. I had never played it before, but I'm pretty sure I'm hooked. That sucker's fun! It's kind of like Civilization but in board game form, and I'm a Civ geek. Heck, I'm a huge Sid Meyer fan, if I'm being completely honest. It was great catching up with Austin and seeing her new digs. Plus, her new roommate has an awesome and grotesquely fuzzy kitty and a hamster. I think she's in good hands.

Maturity Schmaturity

Sean Wooley's birthday happened to be the day that we put Godspell up in Iowa. Needless to say, he was a bit busy to celebrate, as were all his friends. He decided (and rightly so) to throw a belated bash tonight and only invited a select few. I gleefully accepted the invitation when I found out I had made the cut. He decided to celebrate his quiet maturity now gained from another year on this earth in the best way my generation knows how: by playing Super Smash Brothers with his best friends. Ah, adulthood.

I thawed so

I've been so tired today. I woke up feeling fine, feeling over my cold, then BAM. Four o clock hit and I was completely dragon! Rawr! Even coffee didn't help. (but then, dragons don't like coffee.) We decided to go out to eat as a result, taking the kids to Chick-Fil-A: the fast food place that thinks it's too good for all the other fast food places. Not that I don't appreciate the real flowers in the vases and the wait staff that asks if you need a refill or more napkins, in fact, that's really nice. But at the same time, everything in me says, "Dude....you're still a fast food restaurant." So I kill those voices by eating the yummy chicken sandwiches they make.

No, they're not cutting me a check for this. Dragons don't get paid. Rawr.

All Covered in Cheese.

The placid island of Tejuatanalakalulukauwee rests idly in the intense heat of another tropical day in the Tuyellow Sea. When suddenly, the peace-loving natives of the island are shocked to find that chaos has broken loose. What they thought was just a large hill (or 'Mt. Wapahunakalesh') is in fact an ACTIVE VOLCANO!!!! The villagers panic, but where do you run when you are on a small island surrounded by hundreds of miles of yellow ocean? Families gather together in thatched-roof huts to spend their remaining minutes together. Goodbyes are exchanged. But wait, what's this? Suddenly a bright green dawn of hope appears on the horizon. The people gasp then cheer as giant frosty boulders tumble down the side of their once beloved mountain. They are saved! To this day, Tejuatanalakalulukauwee and her people remain unharmed and going about their daily lives as they have for centuries. However, one important change is readily apparent: A large plastic bag altar that marks the site of the near disaster. And maybe, just maybe, if you're lucky you will run into old Madame Hakkalanai, who will whisper to you the tale of how a bag of Andes mints once cooled the wrath of Mt. Wapahunakalesh's fires, and how the combined forces of brownie mix sand, egg yolk and milk sea, and (of course) a bag of mints came together to create a delicious desert. Which was then quickly eaten.

Hey, they can't all be happy endings.

Sinusarus

I'm sick at the moment,therefore kind of miserable to be around, let's be honest. However, when I came home from school, the sight of Jason helping Bri, with what was apparently an impossible to solve word search that she made, warmed my heart considerably. Bri had girl scouts tonight so Jason and I spent some time with Leigha. Jason's parents love to get the girls t-shirts from vacation destinations, and when we are with them they allow them to pick their own shirt designs. Leigha happened to be wearing one she got in Arkansas that was dark blue in color and pictured a rearing white horse and some lightning. I remarked on the shirt, saying:

Me: Wow, kiddo. That shirt totally makes me think of Napoleon Dynamite, except you're not wearing it ironically.

Leigha: *quizzical look* What's ironically?

Jason and I together: Exactly.

Ah, the simple joys of having kids. Why doesn't anyone mention THAT stuff more than being proud of them at school concerts and plays and stuff? Oh, right. 'Cause we're horrible people.

Just in time

First day of Spring semester for me. I had a rough start this morning, first causing Bri to miss the bus (whoops...you really have to prod that one with an iron poker to get started. Leigha wakes up before me no matter how early my alarm is set!) then forgetting that my class started at 10:30, not 11:00 like I kept thinking. I discovered this when I was fixing my hair...at 10:12...and my school is a 20 minute drive. Somehow (and because it's a theater class) I made it within the first ten minutes of class and gave my teacher a sickly apologetic smile as I walked in late. He knows me (and because it's a theater class) so he just said, "See? Like I just said. You can communicate so much without words." and the whole class laughed. Perfect timing. I got a few syllabuses (syllabi?) and was putting them into my binder when I realized I still had my notes from a class I took last semester, which a friend of mine will be taking this semester and to whom I promised to pass the notes along to. I am a doodler, so I went back through them and found this picture of 'bacon birds.' Wow. I must have been really really SUPER bored to come up with that. Oh, and sleep tight, America! I have pell grants for part of my education, so your tax dollars directly produced these little monstrosities. *salute* U.S.A! U.S.A!

This battery is dead.

Today was spent recovering. Ugh. I really don't believe I've ever had my energy sources THIS depleted in my life. No exaggeration. When I finally got up I moved at about 2mph. While driving. However, life keeps rolling along and I have my first day of spring semester tomorrow, so I grabbed my suitcase and dumped it into the wash, complete with a full load of Chucks. I decided to line them up on the washer to drain before I stuck them in the dryer...I'm just tired enough for this to be HILARIOUS.

The indomitable two

The drive home was unremarkable. I-35 is pretty boring in the winter...at least in Summer you get trees. When I finally got home the girls were already in bed and this sign was on Leigha's door. The lovely depiction of fighting makes me want to see how she would interpret a few Rorschach Charts. Just sayin'. Home sweet home.

Community

Sean Wooley (Blue and gray baseball tee, ginger) was unhappy to learn that I didn't post a picture of him from a couple days ago in the blog, so I promised him I'd get him on today. So, while a bunch of us were hanging in the pool area I snapped this lovely bromance shot of Phil, Graham, and of course, Sean. Good times. Today was the response for Godspell, so we got to listen to what other professionals thought of our work. Most of it was pretty good, the rest was helpful. We also got to see the finals for the Irene Ryan scholarship, which is a huge huge deal and one of our students was in the running. He didn't get it, but he put up quite a fight. And tonight at the FOUR hour long award ceremony, the Godspell cast and crew was pleased to discover that we had been presented with the 'Golden Handtruck Award,' meaning we had the safest, fastest, most professional set load in and strike of all the other shows. Buh-chinga! I think we all came back to the hotel feeling like winners.

The long climb up mount IKEA

This is a picture of me. Behind me is a 2,600 seat theater. Behold it in all its glory!!! BEHOLD IT I SAY!!!!! Or not, whatever. Either way, that sucker was freaking HUGE. We spent a long day, full of shock and awe, building the set, rehearsing, and then performing. And oh what a performance it was! The cast rocked so hard that the audience whooped for anyone from our school at an awards ceremony immediately following the show (in the same theater. It was supremely funny to watch them try to give out plaques with a sense of decorum whilst surrounded by trash, leaves, and a rusted out truck under a set of train tracks.) Immediately following the ordeal was strike. Full of good energy from an amazing show, we took that whole sucker down in about two hours. Even the union workers standing by couldn't believe how fast we were. That's such a great feeling, though. We came up here for the festival with this show weighing heavy on our minds. The whole trip was leading up to this point, even with all the workshops, parties, and frooh frah, and we nailed it. We did exactly what we set out to do and it felt great. One more day of festival to go...its on.